A Local’s Guide to Wellington, New Zealand

I’m an Auckland girl through and through so when Katherine said come down to Wellington and play for the day, I couldn’t resist going over to the dark side for a day (plus Kat promised me afternoon tea)…there’s nothing better than a local taking you around a city so here’s a local’s guide to Wellington aka Wellywood. It’s this way to Wellington folks!

^^That’s Kat just in case you didn’t know…she’s pretty darn lovely!

Leaving Auckland bright and breezy and arriving into Wellington, Kat was waiting at the gate for our little adventure around Wellington…we started with a drive around the bay which is just stunning and wild…made even more lovely by half naked men stripping off…Kat didn’t slow down for a picture (apologies for the lack of half naked men photos).

Parking the car at Te Papa, we headed for brunch but first we visited a famous Wellington sculpture, the bucket fountain…

…before heading to Loretta on Cuba Street. The menu is vast and there are a number of yummy gluten free options…

…since Kat is the beautiful lass behind Lady Loves Cake, we needed to order cake obviously…we decided to share a piece and the only gluten free option was a parsnip and hazelnut cake which we were told was better than carrot cake…obviously this is a HUGE call but he was right, it was SO much better than carrot cake and we managed to demolish it between gossiping.

^^super fluffy cake was just what the doctor ordered

We both went for the warm rice options for brunch…I went for the sweet orange, lemon and brandied sultanas warm rice…

…and Kat went for the chicken sausage with thyme warm rice…both are out of this world!

With full little pukus we hit Wellington…instagramming as we went along…we were instagram ninjas…Kat introduced me to her favourite shop, Madame Fancy Pants…awesome name for an awesome shop…I wanted to buy EVERYTHING…my credit card broke out in a sweat.

Wellington is famous for having little crooks and crannies to discover and Eva Street has some awesome little businesses to pop inside.

As we had walked about 500 metres we needed to refuel…we were possibly getting dehydrated from talking so much rather than the walking aspect so Kat introduced me to the Six Barrel Soda Co which is rather funky…

…and makes the most delicious drinks; if in Wellington you definitely need to visit for a fancy slurp and they’re reasonably priced as well.

Eva Street has had a bit of a make over and looks amazing…

…great if you’re a fashion blogger and need to drop a pose or two against a coloured wall

^^Kat striking a pose like a pro and she looks gorgeous, don’t you agree!

And of course we did an obligatory shoefie.

We stumbled across a rather grand alleyway filled of choice street art

…it…

…was…

…freaking…

…awesome!

Heading down to the waterfront to explore, Kat introduced me to a great weekend market that is held inside an underground carpark with cute little stalls selling lots of crafts…

…and then on the waterfront there were so many little vans selling food that you could have traveled around the world in 80 dishes with all the stalls that were operating or if you fancied you could buy fish straight from the boat which was freshly caught that morning…oh the joys of living in New Zealand!

Overlooking Wellington Harbour you really do appreciate how beautiful New Zealand really is…it’s a lot smaller than Auckland however is just as beautiful…

…and there is something just so special as watching kids enjoying jumping into the water on a hot summers day…an innocence that I feel is lost in Europe.

Of course we checked out the naked man…

…and yes he does have a willy, we checked, he must have a rather chilly willy when there is a southerly blowing! The significance of the sculpture was lost on me when I worked out that he had a willy.

I love a good beach hut and Wellington didn’t disappoint…

…they were so darn cute…

…like little beach hut soldiers all in a row!

^^Windy Wellington living up to it’s name…it was only a light breeze.

Our next stop was Oriental Bay…one of the most famous beaches in New Zealand…golden sand in our lovely capital city…

…I may have looked down my rather large nose at the tourists sunbathing…seriously slip, slop, slap folks.

Of course while we were gossiping about life, we chatted about instagram and how I wanted to write a post about instagram cliches so Kat helped me with a few of the poses…including the follow me pose…

…and the ice cream pose…

…personally I think instagram needs more of this pose which I’m going to call the Ahoy pose, what do you think?

We had one more stop before heading to afternoon tea and that was a ride on the Wellington Cable Car which is something that I’d done on a previous visit to Wellington however I love a good old funicular ride and it was such a stunning day over Wellington that we couldn’t resist a ride up…and then back down again!

Travel Tip Alert: Buy a travel card for Wellington, top it up and use this to ride the Wellington Cable Car as it means you can jump the long tourist queue for a ticket and use the travel card…you can buy the card at the diary (corner shop) right by the entrance to the cable car.

After a rather exciting day of touring around Wellington…all on foot…it’s an easy city to walk around, we enjoyed a spot of high tea at Hippopotamus to end our fabulous day out together.

You can see more photos on instagram using our #kellydoeswelly tag. Wellington is such a cool city and if time allows it, try and spend at least 48 hours exploring the city as we didn’t even scrap the surface!

I did have a light bulb moment while in Wellington…

…that when I move home, I think Wellington would be a good base for me rather than Auckland…it’s smaller, more compact and rather quirky which I like.

A big thank you to Katherine for helping me write this Local’s Guide to Wellington and sharing all her wonderful Wellington secrets. I’ve met some wonderful people through blogging and Kat is definitely not just a wonderful blogger but an amazing lady and I feel extremely lucky to call her a friend (if she doesn’t feel the same way then I’m unfollowing her immediately on all my social media channels…and you know I would do it Kat!). Thank you for showing me your new home. I love you to pieces!

I loved my short time in windy Wellington! Though you are right, exploring it with a local is always better. Seemed like you were in good hands :) I thought the cake was carrot cake! But it looked divine. Loved the Instagram cliche pose ;)Jean | Holy Smithereens recently posted…Oh The Things You Can Do With the Berlin Welcome Card!

Fabulous photos and great blogger posing ;) I agree, Wellington seems SO cool now and definitely very quirky. My favourite aspect was all the public art everywhere!Jessi (@2feet1world) recently posted…Snapshots – January 2016

Wow! Windy Wellington’s changed since we were last there – so much fine dining to choose from. The most exotic we found in the late eighties was the Great Wall of China cafe with its karate chopped crudite! Don’t suppose it’s still there….?